Harriet Wheelock / Tuesday 12 October 2010 Archive of the Month – The College Grant of Arms, 1667 One of the earliest items surviving in the College archive is the Grant of Arms to the College made by Sir Richard St. George, the Ulster King of Arms in 1667. The College traces its origins back to 1654 when John Stearne (1625-1669) established a fraternity of Physicians based in Trinity College. In 1667 a Royal Charter was granted establishing the fraternity as The College of Physicians in Dublin, the grant of Arms was made at the same time. The 1667 Royal Charter was returned on the granting of the new charter in 1692 which, amongst other things, changed the name of the College to the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland. The field of the College arms is divided in two, the top half shows the celestial hand issuing out of a cloud to take the pulse of a terrestrial hand, while in the lower half is the Royal Harp of Ireland. The motto is 'Ratione et Experientia'- which translates as Reason and Experience. The grant of arms is painted on a sheet of velum, which has been mounted on a board decorated with red silk. Given the item's age, it is extremely well preserved although it has suffered from being on display in direct sunlight. The College arms as represented in the grant of 1667 seem to have been used for only a very short time. After the granting of the new Charter of 1692 the arms seem to have been dropped, presumably replaced by the arms used on the College seal until 1864 which showed Hercules slaying the Hydra, supported by Apollo and Mercury, with the motto 'Invidet orco'. There is no record of these arms ever having been granted to the College and it seems likely that the College, as with many other institutions at the time, just made use of a coat to which they had no right. Today the College uses a form of the arms granted in 1667. The temporal hand has, sadly, been removed; leaving the celestial hand hovering over the harp of Ireland, now topped with the Royal Crown. The Crown over the harp seems to have been added after the Act of Union of 1800, and it is possible that the temporal hand was removed at the same time to make space for the crown. The motto of the College remains 'Ratione et Experientia'. Images: * College Grant of Arms, 1667 * Hercules Slaying the Hydra, (I couldn't locate a picture of the arms used by the College) * Current College Coat of Arms